Founded by Gregory XVI in 1837, this museum traces Etruscan art from Villanovan urns to Hellenistic bronzes. Highlights include the Regolini-Galassi Tomb treasures (gold pectorals and a monumental fibula), black bucchero pottery, painted sarcophagi and cinerary urns. Clear displays show funerary ritual, Greek contact, and Rome’s earliest tastes.
Artworks in Gregorian Etruscan Museum
at the Vatican Museums
#56
Large Gold Fibula (Regolini-Galassi Tomb)
From the Regolini–Galassi tomb at Cerveteri, this nearly forearm-long gold brooch proclaims elite status. Its bow and catch plate are carpeted with microscopic granules and striding lions—a showpiece of Etruscan Orientalizing goldwork made to blaze on ceremonial dress.
Masterpiece of Etruscan Orientalizing goldwork from a princely tomb context.
#57
"Phoenician-Cypriot" Patera
A shallow, engraved bowl from Levantine/Cypriot workshops prized in Etruria. Concentric bands of animals, lotus, and rosettes circle a central boss. Used for pouring wine or oils in rites, it maps Mediterranean exchange in the 6th century BCE.
Clear evidence of Mediterranean trade linking Levant/Cyprus and Etruria.
#58
Calabresi Ampulla
A small Etruscan flask for scented oils. Its rounded body and narrow neck are dressed with stamped or painted bands—rosettes, waves, and simple animal or plant motifs—turning a daily container into a portable display of style, trade, and ritual habit.
Everyday vessel that reveals Etruscan habits of perfume and ritual use.
#59
Mars of Todi
A near life-size Etruscan warrior stands poised to pour a libation. Cast in bronze and clad in a cuirass over tunic, he fuses Greek contrapposto with Italic ritual. An inscription dedicates the figure to the god—martial elegance turned into a votive offering.
Masterwork of Etruscan bronze casting with Greek-inspired stance.
#60
Painted Sarcophagus with Polychrome Reliefs
A clay coffin from Hellenistic Etruria, its panels carry low relief scenes still brushed with color: banquets, processions, and guardians of the afterlife. Painted reds, blacks, and creams animate the figures, turning a funerary chest into a lively promise of status and safe passage.
Shows Etruscan fusion of relief sculpture and painting in funerary art.
#61
Cinerary Urn of the Master of Oenomaus
Volterran cinerary urn with a lively myth scene carved on its front. Attributed to the “Master of Oenomaus,” a workshop hand known for taut figures and fluent drapery, it turns a family ash chest into theater—linking the dead to heroic memory and civic pride.
Key example of Volterran urn carving attributed to the ‘Master of Oenomaus.’
#62
Funerary Monument with Dying Adonis
This small altar shows the mortal Adonis at the moment of death, adapted from Greek myth for an Etruscan grave. The scene ties personal loss to a cyclical promise of return—beauty cut down, yet remembered—making myth a language for family mourning.
Greek myth adapted to Etruscan funerary use, linking grief to renewal.
#63
Attic Black-Figure Amphora (signed by Exekias)
A masterpiece of the black-figure technique by Exekias, Athens’ finest vase artist. Glossy black silhouettes, razor incisions, and touches of added red and white create a poised narrative scene, signed to proclaim authorship and the potter-painter’s virtuoso control.
Benchmark of Attic black-figure at its peak by Exekias.
#64
Attic Kylix (Cup) by Douris ("Jason")
A fine red-figure cup by Douris: in the tondo Jason confronts the serpent while Athena aids the hero. Delicate relief lines, dilute-glaze shading, and poised spacing turn a drinking vessel into stage and story—myth unfolding in the palm of the hand.
Signature quality work by Douris, master of red-figure cups.
#65
Late Corinthian Column Krater with Columns
A broad mixing bowl in Corinthian black-figure. Bands of striding animals and sphinxes circle the body, with rosettes filling the ground. The tall, pillar-like handles give the form its name, turning a banquet vessel into a showpiece of early Greek surface design.
Classic Corinthian animal-frieze style on a banquet mixing bowl.
#66
Attic Red-Figure Hydria (Berlin Painter)
A water jar by the Berlin Painter, master of elegant restraint. A single, poised figure stands isolated against glossy black, drawn with fluid contour lines and quiet detail. Space and silence do the work—classical calm distilled onto a working vessel.
Signature ‘isolated figure on black ground’ style of the Berlin Painter.
#67
Attic Amphora (Achilles Painter)
A high-classical amphora attributed to the Achilles Painter, famed for poised, solitary figures. A quiet figure stands against glossy black, drawn with hair-fine relief lines. Calm drapery and measured space give the scene a hush—Athens’ severe elegance on a functional vessel.
Attributed work by the Achilles Painter, a leading hand of High Classical Athens.
#68
Attic Calyx Krater (Painter of the Boston Phiale)
A mid-5th-century BCE mixing bowl by the Painter of the Boston Phiale. Figures in supple contour lines move across a broad, bell-shaped body; dilute-glaze shading gives quiet depth. Meander bands and palmettes frame a clear narrative made for symposia—myth and banquet culture in one vessel.
Attribution to a distinguished early classical hand: the Painter of the Boston Phiale.
#135
Gold Pectoral Ornament (Regolini-Galassi Tomb)
A crescent of hammered gold, alive with tiny granules and lions in relief—Etruscan luxury at its peak.
Benchmark of Etruscan goldworking (repoussé and granulation) from a princely tomb.Last Minute Offers
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